Texas officials defended the state’s new controversial voter photo ID law today, saying the law should be implemented over Justice Department claims it would discriminate against minorities.

A Texas elections official, Brian Ingram, testified that felons, non-citizens and those declared dead have voted in past elections, including the May primaries.

“It’s more common than we thought – and it’s troubling,” Ingram said.

Texas Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, a joint author of the new law, said in addition to the need for more stringent law, the voter ID legislation enjoys public support.

“The bill was popular among both Democrats and Republicans, and it cut across all ethnic lines,” Williams said.

But it passed in the state Legislature along strict party lines after Republican Gov. Rick Perry, a former presidential candidate, made it a priority in the 2011 legislative session.

Minority and civil rights groups have joined the Justice Department in opposition to the Texas law that they said could disenfranchise up to 1.4 million voters.

Those groups say the new laws place an increased burden on minorities and point to the lack of prosecutions and voter fraud cases to underscore their claim that the new law is unneeded.

Under cross examination, Ingram, Texas secretary of state elections division director, conceded that “clerical error” could account for votes cast by the deceased.

And Ingram admitted that none of the fraud cases have been sent to the Texas attorney general for investigation.

The testimony opened the trial that is expected to last five days in U.S. District Court here.

A three-judge federal panel is hearing the case. The panel is expected to rule within a month.

Justice Department lawyers claim the new law passed by the Republican-controlled legislature unfairly targets the elderly, students and minorities who don’t have a valid identification card required to register to vote.

The Justice Department rejected the new voter ID law under the Voting Rights Act, which requires states with a history of racial discrimination to get federal preclearance for changes to voting laws and procedures.

Following the rejection, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sued the Justice Department.

He is asking the federal panel to implement the law over the Justice Department rejection.

Abbott argued in his lawsuit that similar laws that have been passed and upheld in Indiana and Georgia.

Lawyer Adam Mortara, a Texas lawyer, argued Monday that evidence shows nearly everyone has ID required to vote on the under new Texas law.

Mortara said the Justice Department, which is presenting evidence to show minorities will be impacted by the new law, is trying to take facts and “shoehorn it into a discriminatory purpose case.”

Minority rights groups, like the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, claim the law was designed to suppress votes of minorities, who are likely Democratic voters, and is therefore discriminatory.

The new law would require photo IDs from federal and state governments, including drivers’ licenses, passports and concealed weapons permits, but not allow college or university identification cards.